June 14, 2011

Centerpoint Medical Center is adding two operating rooms, part of a $5.2 million expansion of its surgery department.
The hospital announced the project Tuesday and said it will enlarge the department from eight to 10 operating rooms. Contractors roughed out space for the two rooms when they built Centerpoint five years ago.
The project also includes turning one of the existing operating rooms into an endovascular suite, where doctors can use blood-vessel catheters to perform minimally invasive surgery or diagnostic procedures.

CEO Carolyn Caldwell said in a release that the expansion shows the hospital’s continued investment in health care for Eastern Jackson County, coming a few months after Centerpoint added a $3.6 million magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.

“We have continued to experience rapid growth in our surgical specialties, and we feel this addition will make Centerpoint Medical Center an even better place for patients to receive care for physicians to practice medicine,” Caldwell said.

Local hospitals are in the midst of a mini-construction boom, with several facilities adding patient rooms or expanding their emergency departments.